Halysites

Abstract: Three halysitid coral species are described from the Ordovician of New South Wales. Quepora calamus sp.nov. and Quepora sp. are recorded from the Cargo Creek Limestone, and Halysites praecedens sp.nov. from the Bowan Park and Canomodine Limestones. The species of Halysites is the first to be described from the Ordovician. It occurs in beds correlated with the LTpper Eastonian (= Middle-Upper Caradoc or Barneveld–Eden). A review of the early history and distribution of halysitids is presented. Sections of Ordovician and Silurian species of Halysites have shed new light on the nature of interstitial and peripheral budding in the genus.

Abstract: A large collection of Silurian halysitids, mainly from the Limestone Point, La Vieille, and Petit Rocher Formations of northern New Brunswick, includes nine species distributed among Catenipora Lamarck, Halysites Fischer von Waldheim, and Cystihalysites Tchernyshev One species, Cystihalysites belledunensis, is new, and, of the others, half are previously unknown in the Chaleur Bay region and half have been described before from this area All species are defined using both qualitative and quantitative data Statistical analysis of serial sections of a corallum of Cystihalysites belledunensis suggests that any random section of a halysitid will yield quantitative data representative of that colony Preliminary analysis of the relationships between species distributions and stratigraphy and sedimentary associations suggests strong facies-control on the distribution of the four most abun- dant species Both Catenipora simplex (Lambe) and Catenipora micropora (Whitfield) occur mostly in outer shelf facies Cystihalysites belledunensis n sp and Cystihalysites encrustans (Buehler) never occur together, the former being found in predominantly high-energy inner shelf facies and the latter in the outer shelf facies